Entries in Translation Team
(4)

Will Graham, Director of Andrew Wommack Ministries of Europe (Click to enlarge)As Andrew shares the truth of the Gospel with the body of Christ around the world, his message continues to penetrate receptive hearts. Because of Andrew's growing visibility and influence, AWM consistently receives requests for Andrew’s books to be translated into an increasing number of foreign languages.

AWM relies on Will Graham, Director of Andrew Wommack Ministries of Europe (AWME) to manage this ongoing translation project. Soon after joining the ministry in 2005, Will recognized the need to translate Andrew's materials into foreign languages. Initially, Will turned to Charis Bible College (CBC) students in England, and friends of the Ministry in several European countries, to translate Andrew's work.

Spirit, Soul & Body, a foundational teaching of Andrew's ministry, is seen here translated in Hungarian.(Click to enlarge)Will quickly found that there was much more to the translation process than one set of translator's eyes could be trusted to accomplish accurately. To spread the responsibility of accuracy Will began to build a team of translators, proofreaders and editors in each country. These individuals, mostly volunteers, had to be familiar with the structure of the native language, and equally as important, they had to know Andrew's ministry and teachings very well.

As languages from a number of nations across Europe were translated, it became evident to Will that he needed to bring in another person to oversee the growing project—one who understood the process. Will brought in Zsolt Katona. Zsolt, a native Hungarian and CBC England graduate, now serves AWME as the Head of European Language Translation and as the head of Andrew's Central European Distribution Centre.

Will and several AWME Translation Team supervising editors meet to discuss future projects. (Click to enlarge)Over the past four years, as the translation team has grown, Will and Zsolt have fine tuned the process by which the team operates. Part of that process includes carefully screening each would-be translator. Each new person is tested for accuracy before being accepted.

"We give out only one chapter as a test translation before we entrust anyone with a whole book," Zsolt said.

Zsolt stressed the point that the sample translation must be an accurate representation of Andrew's original work. He also noted that there is a difference between translating and interpreting. In Zsolt's view this is a matter of ethics:

Hungarian translation of Andrew's book The True Nature of God."To my way of thinking, a translator hardly has any freedom whatsoever, and should be as faithful as possible to the original, with the understanding that if the author has chosen a particular vocabulary in the original, and this actually exists in the language to be translated into, the translator shouldn’t change the vocabulary just because he/she feels it sounds better [than the original]," explained Zsolt.

Accuracy must be maintained throughout each step as the translation progresses from the hands of the translator, through the editor. As one might imagine, this is a time consuming process. Because many of the people participating are doing so on a part-time volunteer basis, the average book translation takes between four and six monthsto complete.

The Chinese translation of The New You and The Holy Spirit.Once a person passes the testing and becomes part of the translation team, he or she always begins with the same books, The New You & The Holy Spirit, followed by Spirit, Soul & Body—a foundational teaching of Andrew's ministry. After these two are completed the next book is determined by consultation between translation team supervisors and friends of the Ministry in that particular country.

The Translation Team, with representatives from approximately 20 countries, meets annually to organize and schedule projects for the coming year. In August of 2009 the team met in Hungary. While traditional book and e-book translations were discussed, the team also began to explore translation opportunities for voice-over and sub-titling projects. These translations will broaden the availability of Andrew's DVD teachings and provide more local TV programming opportunities. It is also a team priority to make sure that there are materials available for the destinations Andrew will visit during the upcoming year. As a result of this team's efforts, when Andrew speaks in a foreign country, he is able to leave behind materials in the local languages.

From very small beginnings, to more than 30 languages being translated currently, each book is a seed planted for a multiplied harvest to come.

Recently, Will Graham, director for Andrew Wommack Ministries Europe, met with his translation team supervisors. Catch a glimpse in the video below as they organize the upcoming project schedule. Be sure to follow the link at the end of this clip for a full video summary of Andrew's recent trip to Europe.